Serial interfaces can be used to connect a host bus adapter (HBA) and a storage backplane. For instance, one or more serial general purpose input/output (SGPIO) interfaces can be used to carry management information associated with drive slots that connect mass storage devices to the storage backplane. A backplane controller can be used to decode the protocol information in the management information and control the drive slots based on the protocol information. A backplane controller may control 4-8 drive slots using side-band communication carrying SGPIO, SES, SAF-TE, or other defined protocols. Conventionally, drive slot assignments cannot be dynamically reconfigured based on detected activity on serial interfaces.
Therefore, a heretofore unaddressed need still exists in the art to address the aforementioned deficiencies and inadequacies.